Think Creative.

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Joe

For the second assignment of our Creative Media Production module we were tasked to produce a remix artefact on any subject of our choice. I decided to put together a mashup video of the Logan film trailer together with scenes of The Office, Super and X-Men: First Class, to create the official trailer of the new “film” Logan & Dwight: The Last Heroes. If you are a fan of The Office and the Marvel franchise then I’m sure you will enjoy this!

The concept of the video originated from my love of both the TV show, The Office, as well as the Marvel superhero films. I was recently impressed with the trailer for new film, Logan, and I wanted to recreate a parody version of this for the assignment using mashup techniques.

The message that I wanted to come across for this video was to make it seem like the character Dwight Schrute was living out his dream as a superhero whilst helping Logan in the hard times of being a mutant.

I began the pre-production stage by researching different video sources that would allow me to make this trailer. I knew initially that I would be using the Logan trailer as a main bed for this video project and I was going to edit the other sources onto this. I then chose to use a scene from The Office where Dwight himself talks about what it takes to be a hero which I thought worked well to introduce him in the trailer. Clips from the film Super were used as this shows Rainn Wilson, the actor who plays Dwight Schrute, in a different role where he plays as a superhero in a film which I feel fits perfectly with the narrative for this trailer. Whilst watching the Super trailer I noticed that the main villain in the film is played by Kevin Bacon, coincidentally the same actor who plays the villain Sebastian Shaw in X-Men First Class. This is why I decided to add clips of him from those sources, to form him as the main villain in my trailer which I believe also suits the story.

All editing techniques used in this video were to suit the Logan trailer, this was because I wanted it to come across like Dwight Schrute is present in the X-Men universe. I did this by matching all visuals to the Logan style, including colour grading The Office and Super clips to a more cold, serious appearance as well as adding black cinematic bars to the top and bottom of the screen. I did my best to edit the video to the soundtrack as well as edit the source clips in a way that would fit with what was occurring in the Logan trailer too. For example, at 0:53 when Charles Xavier says, “someone has come along,” and then it fades to Dwight suiting up in his superhero costume, etc. Finally, I created elements and added them to this mashup video which enhances The Office theme, this includes the Dunder Mifflin Productions intro to go along with Marvel, as well as the logo at the end of the trailer.

As part of our Creative Media Production assignment, this week we were tasked to produce a 1-minute film using only our mobile devices.

As a golfer I really like to watch trick shot videos online, so for my film I aspired to make something along those lines. I quickly realised though that I am not as skilled as some of those golfers so I later decided to make my own, comedic version of a trick shot video.

Instead of just simply recording an impressive golf shot, I decided to put together a parody style video called ‘The Impossible Chip Shot.’ This involved recording using only my iPhone 5s to to follow the golf ball on its journey to the final target.

In reality, I of course set up these camera shots and edited the video together to make it look like it is one continuous chip shot. In fact, I set up the shot, pressed record and actually threw the ball, usually filming a few takes to make sure at least one was perfect.

To achieve an action, comedy video I decided it was important to edit the film in a fast paced syle, following inspiration from films by Edgar Wright. I decided the addition of sound effects and dramatic music would enhance this genre of film and I was very happy that I could edit the video to suit the music and I believe it worked well. The use of slow motion at the end of the video, with the help of the SloPro application, definitely made the ending of the film feel more intense too.

To conclude, I am very pleased with the outcome of my mobile short film. Even though a mobile camera wouldn’t be my preferred choice, producing this using only a mobile device allowed me to be more creative and also showed me that with the necessary knowledge, tools and applications to help, it is very easy to create a short film to a high standard without having to always use expensive equipment. I hope you enjoy:

– Joe Pye

In this week’s lecture and as part of our upcoming ‘Mobile Film’ assignment, we looked at many different mobile filming techniques and applications that could help us with our future university project.

We began by watching some very stunning Timelapses. For those who don’t know a Timelapse is a cinematography technique whereby the frequency at which film frames are captured is much lower than that which will be used to play the sequence back. When you replay this sequence at normal speed, time appears to be moving faster and lapsing. I would advice checking this Timelapse out – https://vimeo.com/69445362

Other techniques we looked at were Hyperlapses, Tilt Shift, Stop Motion (A great example – https://vimeo.com/44963082), Slow Motion and the Little Planet technique. A few great smartphone applications I have downloaded recently and would advise you to do the same are; SloPro, RollWorld, Snapseed and Cinemagraph.

For our in class task this week we were assigned to quickly capture a short film/photo using any of the techniques mentioned above. So, using Cinemagraph this is what I came up with:

To finish this week’s class we looked at how our attention span’s are dropping and why social media websites such as Vine/Instagram/Snapchat became so popular.

Finally make sure to stay updated with the blog as very soon all of the group will be posting our own 1 minute films using the techniques we have learned in this week’s CMP session.

– Joe Pye

This week in our CMP class we learned all about Participatory Culture, from Fandom to Online Communities, Spreadable Media and Remix Culture, and also even Memes too.

We began by taking a look at different online communities on the Web such as Reddit and 4chan and discussed the positives and negatives of both.

We then moved onto the wacky communities of the internet to those who are involved in different kinds of Fandom, e.g. Harry Potter and Doctor Who, and how some people like to come together at events and dress up as their favourite characters by engaging in Cosplay. Internet/Micro celebrities were also discussed and how they can have an impact on people too.

Remix Culture was our next topic of discussion and we also watched some very funny videos on this. I would advise you to check out ‘Miles Davis vs. LCD Soundsystem’ as well as any of the ‘Lord of Rings Mashups.’ A very interesting video was advised to the group to look at and after giving it a watch I would advise you to do the same – https://vimeo.com/139094998

The next Participatory Culture we looked at was the wonderful world of Memes. For those that don’t know, a Meme is an image, video or piece of text which is typically humorous in nature and that is copied and spread rapidly by internet users, often with slight variations. We looked at many great examples and for our class task of the day we were assigned to create our own.

So that’s about it for our second week of Creative Media Production and like always make sure to stay updated to the blog by clicking the follow button. Thanks!

– Joe Pye

The first lecture of our Creative Media Production module introduced us to all of the interesting material that we will be studying over the next few months. This includes; Participatory Culture, Mobile Filmmaking, Digital Media, Social Technologies and more.

As part of our groups we were then assigned a couple of fun tasks, the first involved taking photos of each other that would tell would tell a story about ourselves, either referring to our personality, hobbies or interests. You can find these photos in the ‘About’ section of our blog.

The second task was to create a portrait of ourselves without actually being in the photo. We did this by simply emptying all of the contents of our backpacks onto the desks and then taking a photo of everything altogether. Here is mine!

Just from this image alone you can see that:

I’m organised – Neat layout of my things

I’m a student – Uni card and stationary

I have an interest in gaming/tech – Gaming laptop, computer mouse, chargers, etc

I’m mathematical – Calculator

I am creative – Video editing book, notepad

I have a medical condition – Tablets

Finally, make sure to follow the blog to keep up to date on all of the exciting activities we get up to in our CMP classes throughout this semester!